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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK REVIEW


About The Movie:

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), who has bipolar disorder, is released from a mental health facility into the care of his parents after eight months of treatment. He learns that his wife, Nikki (Brea Bee), has moved away and his father, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro), is out of work and resorting to bookmaking to earn money to start a restaurant. Pat is determined to get his life back on track and reconcile with Nikki, who obtained a restraining order against him after the violent episode that sent him away.

While talking to his court-mandated therapist Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher), Pat explains again why he was hospitalized. Coming home early from his high school teaching job, he found Nikki in their shower, having sex with another teacher, as Pat and Nikki's wedding song, Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour," played on their stereo. Enraged, he nearly beat the man to death. Despite this, Pat doesn't believe he needs medication to manage his condition.
At dinner with his friend Ronnie, he meets Ronnie's sister-in-law, Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a young widow and recovering sex addict who also just lost her job. Pat and Tiffany develop an odd friendship through their shared neuroses and he sees an opportunity to communicate with Nikki through her. Tiffany offers to deliver a letter to Nikki, if in return he will be her partner in an upcoming dance competition. He reluctantly agrees and the two begin a rigorous practice regimen over the following weeks. Pat believes the competition will be a good way to show Nikki he has changed and become a better man. Tiffany gives Pat a typed reply from Nikki, in which she cautiously hints there may be a chance for a reconciliation between them.

Things go well for Pat until his father asks him to attend an Eagles game he has bet virtually all of his money on, as a "good-luck charm". Pat skips practice with Tiffany to attend the game, but is dragged into a fight with thugs attacking his psychiatrist and brother, and is hauled away by police. The Eagles lose the game and Pat Sr. is furious. Tiffany arrives, berates Pat, and argues in detail that the way she "reads the signs," Pat Sr. was luckier when Pat was practicing with her. Pat Sr., now convinced of this, makes a parlay with his gambling friend that if the Eagles win their game against Dallas, and if Pat and Tiffany score at least a 5 out of 10 in their dance competition, he will win back all the money he lost on the first bet. Pat is reluctant to participate in the dance contest under those conditions and re-reads Nikki's letter. After noticing that the phrase Tiffany had said earlier, "read the signs", appears in the letter supposedly written by Nikki, he realizes that Tiffany actually wrote the letter.

Pat, Tiffany and everyone else arrive at the competition on the night of the football game. Tiffany is horrified to discover that Nikki is in the audience. Pat finds Tiffany and manages to coax her onto the dance floor where they perform their routine. As they dance, the Eagles win their game and at the conclusion of their set, they score exactly 5 points—Pat and Tiffany are elated.
Amid cheers from his family and confused looks from the crowd, Pat approaches Nikki and speaks quietly into her ear. Tiffany storms off. Pat leaves Nikki behind after only a short conversation, intent on finding Tiffany. He chases after her and tells her he knows she forged Nikki's letter. He confesses he has loved her from the moment he met her but has taken a long time to realize it, and they kiss. They become a couple and Pat Sr. opens a restaurant with the money he has won.

What Is Good/Bad About The Movie:

Every single one of us is at least a little fucked up mentally. Obviously some people have worse conditions than others, but deep down there’s something tweaked within all of us – it’s part of the human experience.  And that’s what makes Silver Linings Playbook, the new movie from writer-director David O. Russell based on the novel by Matthew Quick, such an impressive piece of filmmaking: the lead character is described is an undiagnosed bipolar locked up after a violent attack, but his recovery and the sometimes cockeyed support he gets from his loved ones only exposes the fact that none of us are anything close to what could be described as “normal.”
 The entire movie is impeccably cast. While Cooper is the film’s greatest surprise – evincing his character’s manic episodes with just the proper amount of panic, fear and stress without ever overplaying his hand – and De Niro is fantastic, it’s Lawrence’s turn that you’ll be talking about as you exit the theater. Tiffany is almost as screwed up as Pat, and the young actress plays her with an engaging aggressiveness that lets her dominate every scene she’s in, whether she’s wildly charging out of the side of the screen while Pat is on a run or shutting down Pat Sr. when he suggests that she is “bad juju” for the Eagles. She’s the fourth grade bully who punches you in the arm and tells you to stop being such a wimp, and though you may bruise and have your feelings hurt you still can’t help the overwhelming crush you have on her.
 Russell does it with more than his pen, as his direction perfectly reflects the film’s themes and tones. Throughout the film he makes a point of having the camera come rushing up to actors until its right in their faces. It’s sometimes disorienting, but it creates an atmosphere for the movie and makes you feel as though you’re watching the story through the eyes of the characters. As he has in previous films like The Fighter and Three Kings he mixes tones brilliantly, able to orchestrate emotions with soft and jagged camera movement – and without ever alienating the audience.

There’s a thin line to walk in crafting a comedy about mental illness. Going about it in the wrong way could not only result in something insensitive, but also foolish and overdone, with characters waving their arms in the air and running down the street with their pants around their ankles. But Russell is simply too good a filmmaker to let that happen. Thanks to his work Silver Linings Playbook isn’t just a great piece of entertainment filled with appealing, fun characters, but also a film that gets how fucked up we all really are.


Overall Grade: 
A+


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